Cardiac arrhythmias are a form of cardiac disease where the electrical activity of the heart is disrupted, often due to the takeover of signal generation by abnormal excitation nodes.
Cardiac arrhythmia may be treated through minimally invasive interventions such as catheter ablation, where catheters navigate a set of electrodes (often 3-8 electrodes) intravascularly into the relevant chambers of the heart, and monitor electrical signal activation times and propagation to thereby identify location points of focal arrhythmias, for example Supraventricular Tachycardia (e.g, SVT). An electro-physiological study is performed to record the activation sequence at target locations of the heart, to determine the arrhythmia mechanism. Such mapping may then be used to identify location points within the heart that are part of the tachycardia or arrhythmia mechanism, but not part of the normal cardiac conduction system. Such location points are then rendered electrically inactive by ablating the point, typically by Radio Frequency ablation. The electrophysiological study may also record blood flow velocity, to determine areas of disrupted blood flow caused by poorly coordinated pumping of the heart chambers. Where the heart valve chambers are fluttering, vortices will occur at certain regions while other regions will have streamline blood flow. The electrophysiological catheter is useful in assisting in the diagnosis and treatment of such conditions. Recent advancements have also resulted in automated remote navigation systems that can drive catheter placement with a great deal of precision, more specifically magnetic navigation systems.